Casimir IV, king of Poland and grand…

Casimir IV, king of Poland and grand duke of Lithuania, dies on June 7, 1427, having enforced royal power at the expense of the magnates, preserved the Polish-Lithuanian Union, and subjugated the Teutonic Knights.

The remains of the King are interred in the chapel of the Wawel Castle in a red marble tomb sculpted by Viet Stoss, his second major work in Kraków.

John Albert, the third son of Casimir by Elisabeth Habsburg of Hungary, daughter of King Albert of Hungary, had distinguished himself as crown prince by his brilliant victory over the Tatars at Kopersztyn in 1487.

In 1490, the Hungarian nobility had proclaimed John King of Hungary at the Rákos diet; however, he had been defeated by his brother, King Vladislaus II of Hungary.

John succeeds his father as King of Poland thanks to the key intervention of his brother Frederick Jagiellon, archbishop of Kraków and archbishop of Gniezno.

Frederick achieves the coronation of John.

However, losses of revenue will soon place John at the mercy of the Polish sejmiks, or local diets, where the szlachta, or local nobles, make their subsidies dependent on the king's subservience.